First Day of School! Ever!

C's big day went very well. Fortunately, we arrive at the bus stop early as the bus arrived six minutes early. Two other boys from the neighborhood got on at the same time and this gave C confidence to follow them up the steps and onto the bus. He had been telling us for weeks that we was scared of getting on the bus. We called goodbye to him and he turned to wave (see the photo below). Somehow we got through it without any of us bawling all over the place or C hanging onto our legs! It's one of those events in life that you seem to anticipate for so long, with such a mix of emotions and then it's over so quickly. The yellow bus swings around the corner. "There's the bus." The doors open, the kid gets on the bus and has to wait for the people ahead of him to get up the stairs. Then, zip, the bus is off and around the next corner. Probably 30 seconds max.

He brought home some drawings, said they played outside before lunch, and watched "Franklin." For lunch, he had chicken nuggets, chocolate milk, french fries and KETCHUP! As long as they have ketchup, we're okay...

The last few days M has crossed her arms and stuck out her lower lip when she doesn't want to do something. It is quite humorous, nevertheless, it is a sign of what is to come...

One day of school done, somewhere between 13 and 22 years to go. Here's to a long and fruitful voyage!

Happy B-day, C

Today was C's birthday--though he denies it because there were no "candles". The candles and the first eating of the cake were last Saturday when Oma, Opa, Maw Maw, Kristy and Hannah could join us. We had a fun time feeding the animals at the Lazy 5 ranch. C's favorite animal was the ostrich because they came right up to the wagon, put their heads over the railing and ate right out of the buckets.

We had lunch at the Chik-fil-a in Mooreville. The staff was great, allowing us to bring in a cake. They brought the cow (who appreciated the chance to come inside the air conditioning after a few hours waving at cars outdoors). M screamed and giggled with delight at the sight of the cow, but would lean away as he approached. C, who is usually scared of costumed creatures, was full of high-fives for the bovine. The manager allowed C to ring a cow bell and led the patrons in singing Happy Birthday.

After a year of claiming that he would be 5 on his next birthday, when several people asked him today how old he is, he replies "4." When I gave him a look, he revised: "6." Somewhere in there. Math was never my thing either.

M was pleased to receive a visit from Bella in her room today. As Bella left, M followed her. This is not unusual. The twist was her singing the song we use to find C when playing hide and seek (to the tune of Frere Jacques)--and the words were almost clear: "Where is Bella? Where is Bella?"

This will be funny when you're 12

We were scheduled to have the first showing of our house tonight so spent a considerable part of the day recleaning and decluttering an already clean and decluttered house. The showing was 6-7 pm so we went out to dinner. About 6:30, Aunt K calls to say the ADT had called her to say that our security alarm had gone off. T turns to me, "Did you set the alarm on?" Before I can say no, C chimes in enthusiastically "I pushed the button!" Doh! He had wanted to push the button to unlock the car doors and apparently pushed buttons on the other fob as well. I've pushed the buttons on the wrong fob myself so its easy to see how this would happen. Nevertheless...groan...

New words

Most families make a big deal over a child's "first word." This is proving somewhat difficult for us as T and I are unable to reach consensus on the standards for an utterance constituting a word. T counts "da da" as the first word. I reject this because, for a long while, M called any object "da da." I was "da da" but so was C, the neighbor's dog, birds outside, etc. By my reasoning "duck" is the first word--although the uncertainty here is that she isn't refering to a web-footed quacker, but patting her head to play "Duck, duck, goose" (see earlier post). Regardless of which word counts as first, we do agree on the order of the words that have followed: ball, Bela (pronounced Bel-Wa), and most recently, dog. Bela of course is the cat and T is most unhappy that M has said the cat's name before "ma ma". (Despite T's coaching her to say "ma ma". M's response to such coaching is to shake her head no.)

M has discovered where Bela's cat treats are kept in the pantry and when the door is open will grab them, hold them over her head and march to the couch in den--behind which Bela is usually sleeping or hiding--and wave them around. M's logic, I suppose, is that a cat will come to play with a shreeking baby waving a plastic container in hopes that the baby will be able to open the container and provide a yummy cat treat. Genetically a cat, Bela is able to ignore such logic, resist the temptation of a treat, a look at M with mild annoyance ("you woke me up for this. I would pity humans but it's not worth the effort.")

C's new word is girlfriend. He took a fancy to one of the high school girls who taught his class at Vacation Bible School this week. Fri afternoon he drew her a picture. Unfortunately, she wasn't in church this morning for him to deliver it. We asked him why she was his girlfriend. He replied "She's bootiful and she's nice to me." Two excellent reasons! The Vietnamese Valentino is now stateside.